Looking back on 2012, we recall with heavy hearts numerous tragedies that impacted our world and daily lives. I remember sleeping in the morning after the Dark Knight Rises premier, waking only to find that 12 people in Colorado never made it home. I remember being at the beach when I heard news of the American ambassador killed in Libya, and the subsequent riots that broke out all over the world over the next week. I remember hearing that it was all due to a YouTube video and then learning later that our government was lying to us – not exactly a surprise but still upsetting. I remember the recent shooting in Connecticut that took the lives of teachers and children alike. As they read off the names of the victims, my mom sat on the couch and cried. I will never forget that image. Lastly, and on a more personal note, I remember driving the long road to Indiana to see my sister in the hospital. Time seemed to stand still that week as Connie fought tooth and nail against the giants of pneumonia. I watched helplessly as she struggled and strove to overcome – above all things – hopelessness.
This, in many ways, was the crux of my year – watching helplessly as the world suffered around me. I didn't have the words and I didn't have the answers. Like everyone else in these circumstances, I was at a loss and just wanted to make sense of it all but couldn't. Where is hope? Where is goodness? Because I'm not seeing it in the world around me.
Now, I have been raised to believe that you can find answers in the Bible, and this has proven itself to be the case time and time again. So I would like to say that I flipped to just the right verse back in April in the Fort Wayne hospital waiting room, and I would like to say that it all became clear then and there. But this is not the case. This is real life. In fact, it wasn't until after Christmas that the verse came to me. And I wish I could say that it's all become clear now and the world is just right, but it is still part of a great learning, growing process. The apostle Paul calls our relationship with Christ a walk. It is a relationship that takes a lifetime to grasp, and even then we're just getting started. But he gives us bits and pieces at a time as we grow in him, and this is the bit I've been learning as of lately – that Christ is the giver of life and the only good in any of us is that life he gives us.
The world is fallen, the darkness of men's hearts runs rampant and we seek light in laws and security, in knowledge and diplomacy. But the light of men is found in the life of Christ Jesus. He is who we must turn to for light in these dark times, and it is there – in him – that we find hope and strength to press on, we find comfort and courage. In him, hearts of stone thaw into hearts of flesh, the blind are made to see and the lame are made to dance. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the angels declared, “Peace on earth!” not because all was suddenly perfect, but because the Perfect One had finally arrived and peace had a chance in his presence. And then there is the next verse – “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” Thank you, Lord, for your grace, for the life you've given to us, and for your light everlasting! You shine out and the darkness just can't handle it! The world may be a bent and broken place, but you are good and you are King!